Tuesday, February 21, 2012

I recently discovered a great new way to use Google Earth in the classroom....Google Tours! A Google Tour is a series or collection of placemarks streamed together like a tour and saved as a file. You can create tours on a variety of topics and places. My students are currently planning a dream vacation anywhere on Earth! Their vacation must include 10 placemarks or "stops" that includes a short description, web link, and/or photo for each stop. I am also excited to know that the newest version of Google Earth also allows for audio narration, so that music or voices can be added to the background. This is something I plan on experimenting with in my 8th grade classes.

Google Tours can be integrated into a variety of content areas as well. Students could create Google Tours on the setting of a particular book in a Language Arts class or traking battles of a war in a Social Studies class. Below are some websites that I have found particularily useful when getting started with Google Tours. I hope this inspires you to check it out for yourself!

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About Me

Middle school technology teacher, sister, daughter, friend, and Christian. I had previously taught six years of 4th grade before starting the 2011-2012 school year as a middle school technology teacher. My background is in Elementary Education and received my master's degree in Educational Technology from NAU in 2010. I happily live in sunny Phoenix, Arizona and work at an amazing school with great kids and staff members! More of my interests include fashion, design, reading, and hiking. Thanks for stopping by!